Japanese Bronze Archaic Flower Vase, 18th/19th Century, Xuande Marked

A Japanese bronze archaic flower vase.
18th/19th century, Xuande mark on the body.

The bronze vase is cast in an elaborate archaistic style, with a compressed globular body rising through a waisted neck to a flaring mouth. The tall neck is flanked by a pair of slender, high-arched handles issuing from stylised dragon heads and terminating in inward-curled tips at the shoulder.

The surface is richly decorated in relief with archaic motifs derived from ancient Chinese bronze vessels. The shoulder is worked with a dense geometric pattern; the upper section is particularly finely modelled with vigorously scrolling, wave-like ornament, and the middle section with a taotie against a leiwen ground. The fine dark brown patina is relieved by areas of warmer reddish-brown and golden bronze.

This vase reflects the strong Japanese interest in Chinese antiquity and the revival and reinterpretation of archaic Chinese bronze forms. An apocryphal Xuande mark is cast on the neck, further emphasising its conscious reference to earlier Chinese bronzes.

Height 17.8 cm, diameter 10 cm.

Provenance:
From a private collection in the U.K.

Reference:
Compare with two vases illustrated by Michael Goedhuis and Tomasso, Japanese Bronze Flower Vessels 1600–1900 AD, 2025, nos. 3 and 25.

Worldwide registered and insured shipping.

Inv. No. MW401